Big changes are happening at one of the best beaches in Texas. The beloved I.B. Magee Beach Park, located in Port Aransas, is set to undergo a nearly $1.2 million makeover that will include a new boardwalk loop with shade kiosks, improvements to a retention pond and an expansion of the park’s RV sites.
The long-awaited project is years in the making and is being funded through RESTORE Act funding Congress approved after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill catastrophe in 2010.
Construction of an ADA-compliant wooden boardwalk, ramp and concrete sidewalk are set to begin soon, according to a new filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Corpus Christi-based construction firm Mako Contracting LLC is building the project, along with a separate improvement project planned for Padre Balli Park, located about 20 miles south. All together, the two projects will cost more than $6.6 million, according to Nueces County Commissioners’ Court records.
Initially, the I.B. Magee Beach Park boardwalk project called for the construction of about 1,250 linear feet of boardwalk at the facility’s RV park. However, the county obtained additional federal funding that will now allow for the boardwalk to extend an additional 2,223 linear feet in a “loop around the newly renovated pond and connect to a new parking area near Cotter Road,” according to a September 2025 memo to county commissioners.